Since the first possibilities to borrow skis appeared at the end of the 19th century and mountainside villages opened up to winter tourism at the beginning of the 20th century, development occurred very quickly. Today, 70 million people around the world ski, including 32 million Europeans at more than 4,000 resorts. It is a full-fledged economy that generates several billion euros in revenues each year. Hoteliers were the first to sniff out the white gold, and by 1922, the French resort Megève already had 5 hotels. After the war, the French population took advantage of paid holidays. The multiplication of ski-lifts, mostly built after 1945, facilitated the development of winter tourism. With 8,000 km of trails, France offers the largest skiable surface area in the world. Close to 450 resorts or ski centres share an activity that generates more than 130,000 direct jobs of which more than 25,000 are in the hotel-restaurant sector alone. Each year, around 5 million French and nearly 2 million foreigners head to the snowy summits of France’s seven mountain ranges (Northern Alps, Southern Alps, Pyrenees, Massif Central, Vosges, Jura and Corsica). Ranking first in tourist destinations worldwide, France is also the first ski destination with more than 62 million skier days per year, ahead of the United States, Japan, Austria and Italy. Alas, like all countries where mountain tourism is widespread, the national slopes are suffering from a certain disaffection to the benefit of low-cost sunny destinations or new skiing destinations such as Slovenia or Andorra. “We lose 5 to 7% of our hotel supply per year,” indicates Régis Lavina, manager of promotional services for tourism industries at the ICC of Savoie.Finally, it is the challenge is also on outside the territory. Because while the share of domestic skiers is diminishing in each country, the...